Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Mining - MYTCL

GondawVillage

Gondaw is located on a serene site overlooking the Yama Stream.

About the Village of Gondaw

U Myo Kyaw is 39 years old and has the unique experience of being a CSD Member for Wanbao prior to coming to Yang Tse. This has enabled him to have a variety of thoughts on why people act the way they do in certain situations, what their true intentions are, and what the best method of managing them is.

“ I have met some pretty rough situations before during negotiations and consultations. MYTCL has a good grasp of how to manage their communities. I am very happy to be working with such a professional company.”

Small and medium enterprises are becoming an increasingly more popular way of making a living. Lying on the southern shores of the Yama Stream, approximately 3 ½ kms from the convergence of the Yama into the Chindwin River, this village is often impacted by the flood waters caused from the rise in the stream due to the influence from the northern dams and water management of the reservoirs. Of these residents 70 are employed by MYTCL, or 6.56%, many of which have been in employ since the ME1 (Ministry of Mines No.1) era of operations.

There is 1 Monastery named Dama Yama located in the village that received repair works donated through the CSD & CSR Project Funds; a tube well for clean drinking water, and a school that received a donation of earthworks and a fence to surround the school yards in 2014.

The elected Village Administrator is Daw Hla Hla Win.

The Head Monk for the village is named U Awbatha.

Corporate Social Responsibility

“ I believe that if the villagers receive a stable and steady income through a variety of methods provided by MYTCL, even through SMEs, that they will start to cooperate in a much more reasonable manner with the Company. There is such a high dependence on crops such as Betel Leaf that the annual stress levels of farmers is incredible if the weather turns at the wrong time, or if there is no rain at all. Then the farmers look for someone to blame. MYTCL is an easy target with so many environmental areas of consideration to carefully monitor. Villagers do not care about science. They care about results and what they can see, and if they cannot sell their crops then CSR has no meaning to them unless it puts money in their hands.”

Community & Social Development

Drilling in the Gondaw Village a borehole for CSR Project of a new water well. In 2015-16 the budget for this village was enhanced to a total of $32, 530.91 to include additions to the electrical power grid system, as well as to install water purification treatment centres and drill another tube well for drinking water for the village. In the 2016-17 budgets Gondaw made a special request to reinforce the embankments of the Yama Stream that annually erode away their lands along the confluence edges of the Yama and Chindwin River. $21,340.00 USD will be spent for the village to construct fortifications along the village boundaries to prevent falling into the waters.